Three Little Birds: April 2015

We're three months old. Be sure to check out our newborn pics, two month, Easter, and spring pics posts.

Weights
Archer: 10lb
Andrew: 9lb 6oz
Alden: 11lbs 11oz

Food
Archer and Alden: Day 120ml, Night 140ml of half breastmilk and half formula
Andrew: Day 120ml, Night 140ml of breastmilk

We were all on all breastmilk for about 3 weeks using frozen breastmilk to supplement, but mom just can’t keep up with these boys demand. Andrew gets all breastmilk since his stomach is sensitive. The boys are still eating every 3 hours during the day (11, 2, 5, and 8) and every 4 hours (12, 4, 8). They are getting better and better about sleeping all four hours at night (and sometimes a little longer), so we (desperately) hope to stretch their schedule very soon.

What a wild Saturday night looks like at our house.

Everything is color coded - Archer=red, Andrew=blue, Alden=green

(except his bottles are clear because we couldn't find green bottles).

Moms of multiples, go ahead and get enough bottle warmers for each baby, it is worth it for your sanity.

Diapers
We still go through a minimum of 21 a day. All the boys are in size 1s for now. It is hard to believe we have progressed through Preemies, Newborns, and now 1s.

Clothes
While we are on the subject of growing, the boys are now almost completely out of newborn clothes – a few things still fit, but snuggly. That means everyone is mostly wearing 0-3, but Alden wears the bigger sleepers and longer pants and Archer and Andrew the smaller things. When we took their three month pictures, the outfits they wore were too small for Alden, just right for Archer, and too big for Andrew. This may be an on-going problem ;-) Those of you who have visited know that my “home office” is now an office/day nursery where we have our second changing table (the one we always use) and keep their sleepers, which is what we wear when we are at home.

Alden’s pile is on the left and Archer/Andrew’s pile is on the right. Archer is the only “big” brother in history who has to wear his “little” brother’s hand-me-down’s. You may also notice the Solo cups in the window to the kitchen. The adults can only use things that go on the bottom rack of the dishwasher or are disposable since a days worth of bottles takes up every inch of the top rack.

Activities
The boys spent the first part of their 3rd month of life recovering from RSV. The boys were eating as often as every hour. They had too much phlegm in their heads and tummies to keep much food down, so they could only eat a little at a time without spitting up. Alden and Andrew were also getting breathing treatments as often as every four hours.
This was probably one of the toughest times for mom, dad, and Baba, and we were tempted to go back to the hospital just to get some help (not really, but kind of).

Slowly, but surely everyone got back on their regular schedule and the boys stopped needing breathing treatments. By St. Patrick's Day, we were all well enough for our two month shots. It is here I should say that my phone died and I lost a ton of pictures :-( One of which was a pic of the boys "doing shots" on their first St. Patty's Day, but at least we have this little gem.

We had a lot of fun visitors this month:

Uncle Caleb (Archer's Godfather) and Aunt Lauren

GG and Aunt Marguerite

Aunt Amanda, Cousin John Bryan, Cousin Will, and Uncle Matt

Will gave Alden some paper and crayons to color with and also made sure all the babies had their correct pacis. John Bryan did some floor time with the boys and drew them some pictures. They are great big cousins!

The boys are super social now. They love people and will follow you with your eyes if you are talking or walking through the room. They also love watching Wrigley run through the room as long as he trying to jump on them while they are eating or barking like a manic - he is starting to disturb their sleep :-(. They all smile and coo and are moments away from laughing (I can feel it). They love their activity mats (Archer especially), mirrors, and cuddling. They love being swaddled, but don't care much for the act of getting swaddled. They also love bath time now (and are getting chubby legs).

Archer

Andrew

Alden

Personalities

Archer: Archer is our Mr. Personality. He is such a smilely baby. He used to be hard to soothe and easily overstimulated, but is so much more content now. He is still so strong, and loves to stand on your lap and play the piano (aka kick his legs on his activity mat). He is still a grunter, and often has to sleep separate from the other two, so he doesn't wake them up with all his little "old man" noises.
Nicknames: Old Sport, Archer Bob (in honor of Bob and Aarti), Archer Marcher, Arch, and Beau.

Andrew: Andrew has been our fussy little guy the past several weeks. His tummy hurts him a good bit of the time, so we are trying out a variety of gas drops (homeopathic and medicinal) and I have gone off dairy :-( Nevertheless, he is still a happy little guy. He loves being held, taking, and cooing. He is getting better and better at holding his head up while sitting, both on the floor and propped on the Boppy. He is a squirmy little guy, and (along with wiggly Archer) can make double (or triple) feeding difficult.
Nicknames: Peanut, Andrew Bug, Bae.

Alden: Alden is still our cuddly little bear. He can fall asleep in any position, but can still only sleep for long periods of time if swaddled. He has the hardest time holding up his head, probably because it is so big (for which dad has apologized on several occasions), but we are giving him lots of opportunities to practice. His cry, when he decides to use it, is bloodcurdling. Good thing he is happy most of the time.

Nicknames: Biscuit, Biscuit Bear, Alde Bear, Chunker, Boo.

Other fun things we did this month: